The present invention relates to a data processing device for handling image data, a facsimile machine having data processing function, a data managing device for managing image data to be handled by the data processing device, and a computer program employed by the data processing device, the data managing device and the facsimile machine.
Conventionally, have been known a facsimile machine and a personal computer installing therein an application software for performing facsimile data transmission and reception, as a data processing device. Image data is obtained through a communication unit such as a modem from an external network such as a public telephone line network and an internet, and the obtained image data is processed with the data processing device.
Further, known is an image data reception processing method, in which received image data is successively stored in a work region prepared in a memory (RAM), and the image data which have been stored in the memory are subjected to a predetermined processing (such as printing processing) when the image data reception is regularly or normally completed.
In case of a facsimile machine with a reduced memory capacity, if facsimile data whose volume exceeds the reduced memory capacity is transmitted from an external facsimile machine to the facsimile machine with the reduced memory capacity, data reception cannot be normally completed. In order to avoid this drawback, according to an invention described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No.Hei-4-8055, a received data stored in the memory is temporarily transferred to a hard disc or other memory unit of an external host device connected to the facsimile machine with an interface, if a remaining memory capacity becomes not more than a predetermined amount.
The above-described technique has been proposed in an attempt to normalize the reception of the facsimile data in case of the facsimile machine having the reduced memory capacity. If such data transferring technique is employed, the facsimile data can be inspected at the external host device as described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No.2001-282694.
However, in the conventional device, in order to allow the external host device to be able to inspect the facsimile data, an appropriate application software for enabling inspection of the facsimile data must be installed in the external host device, and the facsimile machine must also install an application software compatible with the appropriate application software.
Such application software requires complicated bi-directional protocol so that the structure of the software is complicated, and require greater time and labor for development. Moreover, a prolonged time period is required for communication between the external host device and the facsimile machine.